A. O. Smith Corporation $AOS Shares Bought by United Asset Strategies Inc.

United Asset Strategies Inc. grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 178,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,670,000 after acquiring an additional 15,769 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 41.6% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 2,084 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 75.8% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 402,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,277,000 after acquiring an additional 173,366 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,085 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,532 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up from $74.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Kevin J. Wheeler sold 22,200 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $1,581,972.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 100,647 shares in the company, valued at $7,172,105.22. This trade represents a 18.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $71.7410 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $68.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.95. A. O. Smith Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.83 and a fifty-two week high of $92.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $997.89 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.68% and a return on equity of 28.42%. A. O. Smith’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.700-3.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.88%.

About A. O. Smith

A. O. Smith Corporation manufactures and markets residential and commercial gas and electric water heaters, boilers, heat pumps, tanks, and water treatment products in North America, China, Europe, and India. The company offers water heaters for residences, restaurants, hotels, office buildings, laundries, car washes, and small businesses; boilers for hospitals, schools, hotels, and other large commercial buildings, as well as homes, apartments, and condominiums; and water treatment products comprising point-of-entry water softeners, well water solutions, and whole-home water filtration products, and point-of-use carbon and reverse osmosis products for residences, restaurants, hotels, and offices.